In the past, sutures have been the primary means employed to connect blood vessels, ducts or other tubular body structures. Tubular body vessels are generally connected in end to end or end to side relationship and must be carefully sutured to prevent fluid leakage at the graft site. As surgical techniques and equipment used, for example in vascular surgery, have advanced, effective surgical procedures have been perfected which can be performed through very small incisions. However, as the size of the surgical incision required is minimized, it becomes an extremely difficult and time consuming operation to effectively suture two vessels together at a graft site.
Attempts have been made to position a stent inside a main blood vessel and to then use a separate graft device which is secured between the sidewall of a blood vessel and the stent. U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,712 to Maginot illustrates a two piece assembly of this type. The use of a separate graft unit in combination with a stent requires the ability to manipulate two separate units through a small incision, and a need exists for a unitary unit requiring only minimal manipulation to position and employ the unit to create an effective graft between two body vessels.